Diamonds (3rd Edition)

Contents
List of Price Guides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vi-vii
List of Special Charts and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Contents of Color Photograph Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Preface to the Third Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
PART ONE Appreciating Diamonds
1 The Magic of Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2 Becoming Familiar with Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3 Looking for a Diamond That's a "Cut Above" . . . . . . . . . . 13
PART TWO Diamonds
4 What Is a Diamond?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5 The Importance of Cut & Proportion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6 Body Color. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7 Clarifying Clarity: How Flaws Affect Diamonds . . . . . . . . . 61
8 Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
9 How to Read Diamond Grading Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
10 False Claims & Costly Bargains: How to Spot Fraud
and Avoid Misrepresentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
11 Comparing Colorless Diamond Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
12 Fancy-Color Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
13 Comparing Fancy Natural-Color and Treated-Color
Diamond Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
14 A Word about Synthetic Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
PART THREE
Design &Style
Getting the Look You Want ... and Keeping It That Way
15 Choosing the Right Metal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
16 Choosing the Design of the Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
17 Caring for Your Diamond Jewelry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
PART FOUR
Important Advice Before &After You Buy
18 What to Ask When Buying the Stone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
19 How to Select a Reputable Jeweler
& Gemologist Consultant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
20 Buying on the Internet: E-Commerce &Online Auctions . . 199
21 Choosing the Appraiser & Insurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Appendix
A Selected List of Recognized Laboratories . . . . . . . . . 213
Selected Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Color Plates and Exhibits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Index 217
Price Guides
Retail Price Guide for Round
Brilliant-Cut Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126-28
Retail Price Guide for Old-European Cut Diamonds . . 129
Retail Price Guide for Rose-Cut Diamonds . . . . . . . . . 129
Retail Price Guide for Briolette-Cut Diamonds . . . . . . 130
Retail Price Guide for Fancy Natural-Color Diamonds
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147-150
Retail Price Guide for Fancy-Color Permanently
Enhanced/Treated Diamonds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Retail Price Guide for HPHT-Treated Fancy-Color
Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
vi CONTENTS
Auction Prices of Fancy-Color Diamonds (A Sampling)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Retail Prices of Colorless Synthetic Diamonds
(A Representative Sampling) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Retail Price Guide for Fancy-Color Synthetic
Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Special Charts and Tables
Diamond Color Grades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Commonly Used Diamond Color Grading Systems . . . . 47
Commonly Used Diamond Clarity Grading Systems . . . 71
Sizes and Weights of Various Diamond Cuts . . . . . . . . . 77
Diameters and Corresponding Weights of Round
Brilliant-Cut Diamonds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Acceptable Tolerances for "Round" Diamonds . . . . . . . 83
Depth Percentage Guidelines Used Generally. . . . . . . . . 88
Table Percentage Guidelines Used Generally . . . . . . . . . 89
Comparison of Diamonds and Diamond Look-Alikes . 123
International Ring Size Equivalents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Comparison of Gold Content Markings . . . . . . . . . . . 161
How Alloys Affect Gold Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163